Portugal Opposes Proposal to Ban Russians From Entering EU

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Portugal said that sanctions should target the “Russian war machine”, not the innocent Russian citizens, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.

Apart from voicing its opposition to the entry ban for Russians, the Ministry pointed out that Portugal is ready and will take part in all meetings related to the matter.

Apart from Portugal, the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has also already opposed the idea of banning entry into the EU for Russians. Scholz said earlier in August that banning entry and Schengen visas for Russians is a hard-to-imagine idea.

In addition, Scholz said that this is Putin’s war, emphasising that sanctions should focus on targeting Putin and those responsible for the war in Ukraine, not innocent citizens. Moreover, he noted that extending the measures to include innocent citizens of Russia would reduce the effectiveness of sanctions that have been imposed so far.

“We have adopted far-reacting, concrete sanctions against many Russian officials, oligarchs, and powerful groups in Russia, and we’ll certainly continue to take further steps,” Scholz added.

In contrast to the above-mentioned, some countries have already imposed restrictions on the citizens of Russia. Estonia has already stopped issuing visas to Russians. Additionally, the same has banned entry to Russians who hold Schengen visas issued by the Estonian authorities.

Besides no longer issuing visas to Russians and banning them from entering the country, the Estonian authorities are also planning to not permit entry to citizens of Russia who hold Schengen visas issued by other countries.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia, Urmas Reinslau, said that the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Interior are working on proposals on how the border could be closed for Russians holding valid Schengen visas.

Latvia also stopped issuing Schengen visas to Russians. The authorities of Latvia suspended the cross-border deal with Russia on August 1. Additionally, they called on the other EU countries to take such a decision and cancel the visas that had already been issued to Russians.

In addition to the above-mentioned, Finland also plans to cut the number of visas issued to Russians. The Finnish authorities said last week that they would limit the number of visas issued to citizens of Russia by 90 per cent starting from September, meaning that only around ten per cent of the applications made by Russians will receive a positive answer.